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We're here to help

If your pet requires urgent care outside of our normal opening hours, call our Out of Hours number 07507 122058
 

Please be conscious of the fact that because we have a small team, our on-call vet may have worked the previous day or be working the following day as well. To protect our staff and give yourself peace of mind, make sure to book appointments about health concerns before they become urgent. We keep our daytime prices affordable to make this possible. 

That said, emergencies can still happen and we’re always happy to help!

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Our Commitment

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When you call our number out of hours, you’ll be able to discuss the emergency with our on-call vet, who will walk you through possible next steps.

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If you need to come in for an Out of Hours Appointment, the on-call vet will arrange a time to meet you here at our practice.If your pet requires an overnight stay in our clinic, we’ll send you morning and evening updates about their condition by either phone call, Whatsapp or email. Please update our reception team on any preferred method of contact. Be aware that our updates could be flagged as spam and we may leave voicemails.

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Though we will notify you of this on admit, in accordance with GDPR regulations, we do not require explicit consent to send these updates as they form part of our essential duty of care. 

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Our Out of Hours arrangements allow us to provide ongoing and tailored care to patients that need to stay with us overnight. The number of checks and frequency of treatment is based on the individual’s needs.

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To aid you in future emergencies, we advise you to have our First Aid Kit and a small stock of routine medication for your pet on hand at all times. Please email us (contact@exoticvets.co.uk) for any medication your pet requires at home.

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Pricing

 

Consultation (General Practice Out of Hours before 9pm) £180

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Consultation (General Practice Out of Hours after 9pm) £280

 

Consultation (New Client or Referral Emergency Out of Hours) £350

Our Terms and Conditions of Business Fees All our Fees, food, consumables and medication are subject to VAT at the current rate. Our fee levels for all procedures are determined by the time spent on a case. Fees for drugs, materials and diets are based on our expenditure. You can request a detailed breakdown of our fees for every consultation, surgical procedure or transaction with us. Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, the discharge of your pet or upon collection of food and medication. Payment for external laboratory fees and private cremation fees must be paid before arrangements are made with the laboratory or crematorium. We are a cashless business with payments made using credit or debit card or online through our website. We are a paperless business. If it is not possible to make payment at the time of treatment (for example a house call or visit) payment is due on presentation of the invoice for work undertaken. These will be sent to you via email. Dispensed medication, food or supplies relating to the case need to be paid for prior to collection from our clinic. Estimates of Treatment Costs We will happily provide an estimate as to the costs of a course of treatment or surgery which will be recorded on your pet’s file and will be emailed to you. We aim to be as accurate as possible so you can budget for treatment. Please do not be upset if we ask you for a budget level. Our system is set up so we can input budget limits on every case admitted to our care. If we get close to this limit, we will contact you before proceeding further, if it is possible, without compromising patient care. Settlement terms We expect invoices to be paid at the time of service. Our margins are low to keep prices down and so we cannot sustain outstanding debts for services. If payment has not been received after 14 days, we reserve the right to add an additional administrative fee in respect of costs incurred. You will be notified 48 hours before the charge is applied. After due notice to you, the client, overdue accounts will be sent to our debt collectors and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt. These costs include the production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls, home visits and so forth. Any credit card payment not honoured will result in the account being restored to the original sum. Please discuss any difficulties you may have with payment for services before giving consent for procedures to be undertaken. Part payments can only be authorised by a director of the company based on your history with our clinic and agreed schedules must be adhered to. Pet Health Insurance We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents, but we are unable to give specific advice about the choices that are out there. Please be aware it is your responsibility to settle your account with us directly and then reclaim the fees from your insurers. We do not charge for processing insurance claims, although we may do so if additional letters are required. If the insurers do not settle the claim that is a matter between you and the insurer and the debt remains your responsibility. Concerns and standards We hope that you will be happy with all aspects of our service. However, if you have concerns or feel we have not been clear about treatment, please discuss them at the time with our clinical team. If you require further explanation, then please submit your concerns via email to the directors. Ownership of records, radiographs, images and other records We may take photos and videos of patients in our care to be used for educational purposes or on our business social media accounts (Fife Exotic Vets). Patent data is anonymised, unless you are specifically asked if we can use your pet’s name or we utilise client photos. All records, images and other documents remain the property of Exotic Vets Ltd. These records by law are owned by the clinic. Copies will be forwarded directly to another veterinary surgeon at your request. Should you wish for images from x rays or scans please ask. We are happy for these to be provided to you. Hospitalisation We perform our own out of hours. If for any reason your pet remains with us overnight they will be checked by the on call vet team at appropriate intervals, but will not necessarily be continuously monitored overnight. Owners of inpatients will receive a routine update after rounds the following morning. Medication Written prescriptions are available from our clinic for a fee. You can obtain medications from the clinic, our online shop or from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy (including online). We can only provide POM-V medication for patients under our care. We are required to assess your pet every six months for long term prescriptions or medications to be dispensed. Once medications have left our building we cannot refund the cost. This is due to strict regulations regarding temperature control set by our governing bodies. If we order in medication specifically for your pet, payment will be required even if it is not collected. A prescription for medication may not be appropriate if your pet is an inpatient or in need of urgent care. If you have medication at home we advise you to bring this in with you as it can avoid the need for extra medication to be dispensed. Out of Hours We provide an out of hours service for registered patients only. This requires us to have clinically assessed your pet during working hours to be registered on our system. Referring veterinary surgeons are also required to be approved and registered on our system prior to us accepting referrals out of hours. These measures are in place to ensure that we are able to provide the best care we can for our clients. Staff on call will have worked the day before and they will work the day after so please ensure disturbances to them are absolutely necessary. We use telemedicine to triage cases and any fees for emergency call outs are due in advance when they are booked on our system. It can take up to 90 minutes for our team to attend calls. Second opinions and Referrals Should you wish your pet receives an external second opinion or other specialist services which we are unable to provide, we are happy to facilitate this to the best of our ability. However, specialists in other disciplines are often unfamiliar with exotic animals and may not take them on as cases. We aim to collaborate with other specialists where possible to ensure the best outcome for your pet. Data Protection – GDPR We only use your personal information that you provide to us in accordance with our privacy policy.

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